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41 Tenn. 144

Middleton v. Smith

Tennessee Supreme Court

Decided September 15, 1860

Tennessee Supreme Court · decided 1860-09-15

<p>Entailment. Devise for the benefit of a daughter, and her bodily heirs. Act 1852, ch. 91. Code, sec. 2008. Act of 1784-, ch. 22, sec. 5. Code, sec. 2007. A devise ol' land, “for the benefit of my daughter, Jane, and her bodily heirs, ” is operative to invest the daughter with an estate in fee simple. The Act of 1852, oh. 91 — copied into the Code, sec. 2008 — has no application to this kind of a devise. By the North Carolina Statute of 1784, ch. 22, sec. 5 — which is re-enacted by the Code, sec. 2007 — estates tail, general and special, are entirely abolished.</p>

Cited by 1 later decisions — most recently June 1956

1 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Complainant appealed · Decided 1860-09-15

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McKinney, J.,

¶1delivered the opinion of the Court.

¶2On the 8th of March, 1856, the complainant purchased from the defendants, a tract of land, lying in Hamilton county, for the consideration of $28,000, which was paid; and the conveyance in fee, with the usual covenants of warrants and seizure, was executed by Smith and wife, the privy examination of the wife having been taken in proper form.

¶3The land belonged to Mrs. Smith. Her title was *145derived under the Will of her deceased father, Samuel Wilson, which bears date of the 17th of October, 1858.

¶4The devise of the land . is to Mrs. Smith, “for the benefit of my daughter, Jane, (Mrs. Smith,) and her bodily heirs.” The bill seeks to have the contract rescinded and the deed cancelled, upon the. assumption that, under the foregoing devise, Mrs. Smith takes only an estate for life in the land conveyed in fee to the complainant.

¶5The defendants demurred to the bill, and the demurrer was allowed, and the bill dismissed. The Act of 1852, ch. 91 — copied into the Code, sec. 2008 — has no application to this case. By the common law, the words of the devise, “for the benefit of my daughter, Jane, and her bodily heirs,” would have created a conditional fee; that is, an estate which restrains the fee to some particular heirs, exclusive of others, as to the heirs of a man’s body, or to the heirs, male, of his body.

¶6But with us, estates tail, general and special, were long since entirely abolished. By the North Carolina Statute of 1784, ch. 22, sec. 5, which we have retained, such estates were converted into estates in fee simple absolute; and this provision is re-enacted by the Code, sec. 2007.

¶7It follows, therefore, that the conveyance of the defendants is operative to invest the complainant with an estate in fee simple, consequently the demurrer was properly allowed.

¶8Decree affirmed.

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